Garrisons on the edge of Imperium Romanum

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru

In spite of the Caucasus was routed by the Roman commander Pompey already in 65 BC, only after Nero who stimulated concentration of Roman military forces in the East, a special, so-called `Pontic Limes' or Caucasus or Pontus-Caucasian frontier was formed in order to serve the purpose of reinforcement of Roman positions in the Southern Caucasus and to take the region of Northern Caucasus under good control as well. Roman aggression was, of course, met with resistance. Local population of Trapezus withstood against them in AD 69. The situation was rather tense in central Colchis. The Alani problem and the related factor of the east-Georgian state, Iberia was serious. Rome had actually lost Armenia and there emerged an urgent necessity to concentrate much more troops along the frontier territories with the Armenia Major, Syria and even along the whole eastern frontier. As to the other one dividing Rome from Cappadocia and Armenia Minor, it was completely modernized and its terminal links were Melitene, i. e. the XII Fulminatae and Satala, i. e. the XV Apolinaris legions with their headquarters. These districts were regarded as the main distributors of Roman garrisons to Pontus, Colchis, Cappadocia and Armenia during the 1st-3rd centuries AD1.

The Roman forts built along the eastern Black Sea littoral played important role in the defense of the Caucasian border. Their aim was to defend the Roman territory from the barbarians and at the same time represented the base for conducting military operations beyond the boundaries of the Empire. Apsarus was one of the most significant places of the Caucasus defensive line.

A fragment of papyrus dated to the 2nd century AD found in Fayum, Egypt gives interesting information concerning to the garrisons stationed here. It mentions Marcian, the veteran of the II cohort named after Claudius. According to M. Speidel cohors II claudiana mentioned in the letter represented the auxiliary cohort of the Roman army stationed in Cappadocia in the mid 2nd century AD2. The presence of this cohort in Apsarus is confirmed by the materials found on the fort territory itself: during the archaeological campaign in 1995-1998, namely in its central part where the headquarters is suggested to be, two fragments of stamped bricks were found (fig. 1.1-2). The first reads CO (H) and the numeral II, on the other - (C) OH and the numeral II. These suggest to be the abbreviation of Cohors II Claudiana. Apart from documental confirmation of the Faium inscription, this find is also important in a way that it makes the above mentioned M. Speidel's conclusion more trustworthy.

Cohors II Claudia or cohors II Claudiana is also known from one more inscription - Themenothyrai (Phrygia). From the cursus honorum of one of the Greek soldiers it becomes clear that he was znapxoq crceipac; p II) Kkaudia;. It is possible to connect this inscription to the cohors II Claudiana found in Fayum. It should also be taken into consideration that the above cohort was stationed in Cappadocia in the 2nd century AD and Arian does not name this cohort among the cohorts enumerated for the battle against the Allani (RE, 1900, 273).

For the confirmation of the garrisons stationed at Apsarus two stamped bricks are also interesting found here (fig. 1.3-4). It reads SAGI backwards and numerical sign I that indicates the cohort of Sagittarius (Sagittarius-Sagittariorum). The first cohort of Sagittarius was known but its identification is not possible in I SAGI found in Apsarus. The above mentioned cohort was based in Dacia during the whole 1st-3rd centuries and this fact is confirmed by archaeological as well as epigraphic data. The fact that the inscriptions on the brick, outline of letters, size of stamp frames and shape are different shows that the above military units were not based in Apsarus4. Often the inscriptions given on the stamps of the same legions or cohorts are almost identical. In most cases it did not matter in which fort they were stationed at what period. E.g. the width of the frames of their stamps varies from 1.9 to 2.2 whereas the width of the Apsarus stamp is 2.6. There is a vivid difference in letter outlines too. While, e.g. the stamps of Legio XV Apolinaris found in different forts of the Imperium Romanum are almost identical in size, stamp shape and letter outline. The cohorts stationed at Apsarus are mainly brought from Cappadocia. We know about several cohorts that Arrian did not want to use against the Alani. Among them is Cohors III Syrorum sagittariorum. As a careful hypothesis we can suggest that for a certain period the above cohort might have been stationed at Apsarus and the stamped brick with the inscription SAGI I was made by them in Apsarus. Cohors III Syrorum sagittariorum is mentioned in a diploma dated to AD 101 that was given to a Roman soldier from Cilician Anazarbos. It points to the existence of the garrison in Asia Minor or Syria. M. Speidel tries to connect Cohors III Syrorum sagittariorum with cohors III sagittariorum and concludes that if these cohorts are one and the same then the military units must have transferred to Cappadocia from AD 75/76 till 80 as far as they are not mentioned in any of the Syrian sources. The scholar considers that this cohort might have finally been stationed at Apsarus6. The archers appear in the Roman army during the Punic Wars. There were famous archers from Sicily, Crete and Syria. Pompey was supported by the Pontus archers' units in the Civil War (RE, 1920, cl. 1744). Part of the Sagittarius is met in numeri as well. The number of the Sagittarius corps increased in the Diocletian's epoch. About 60 archers cavalry and 30 infantry units are mentioned in"Notitia Dignitatum". They were mostly stationed in eastern Roman provinces (RE, 1920, cl. 1745; 1972. cl. 44). It was a specifically armed auxiliary military unit. Such type of military units used to be stationed in Syria, Danube line and other Roman provinces.

There are also two stamped tiles known from Apsarus. On one of them only two Latin letters have been preserved - CO while on the other - only C (fig. 1.5-6). In our opinion these letter should mean `cohort'. One of the tiles is found in the central part of the fort whereas the other has no passport. Apart from this, some more stamped tiles have been found but unfortunately the inscriptions have been erased. All the discovered stamps are of rectangular shaping. According to G. Spitzlberger, they belong to the A type of stamped tiles, while according to U. Brandl's typology they belong to type 1a.

Overall, the archaeological evidence found in Apsarus shows that in Apsarus of the 1st-3rd centuries AD another auxiliary Roman troops also stood: C-COH(ors) AVR(elius) C(ivium)-R(romanorum), Coh(ortis)<x>(milliariae) and X-stamp discovered on water system pipes make us think that engineering forces of Legio X Fretensis worked in Apsarus to build a water system. As we consider the sign - X could be the brand of the workshop.

Fig. 1

apsarus roman caucasus

An earlier fortification structure of Tsikhisdziri outpost seems to be built at the same time and it was quite near to Apsarus that perfectly coincides to the practice of fortifying the approaches of newly established strategic points even at the end of the 2nd century AD. A Roman stamped brick with the letters VEXFA, found at Tsikhisdziri, is especially noteworthy. It is dated to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Some of the scholars suggest that the last two letters of the inscription are abbreviated names of above mentioned XII and XV legions. Others connect FA to Phasis, and correspondingly, to Cappadocian subdivision of singularis.

There is almost all evidence for present day on the garrisons stationed on the edge of Imperium Romanum, i.e. Colchis/Lazica, modern western Georgia. Most of them are connected with Apsarus and Petra, which played important role in the defense of the southern part of Caucasian frontier.

References

1. Леквинадзе В.А. Понтийский лимес // ВДИ. 1969. №2. C. 75-93; Speidel M. P. The Caucasus frontier: Second-century garrisons at Apsarus, Petra and Phasis // Studien zu den Militдrgrenzen Roms, III. Stutgart, 1986. S. 657-660; Mitford T. B. The Euphrates frontier in Cappadocia // Studien zu den Militдrgrenzen Roms, II. Kцln/Bonn, 1977. S. 657-660; Кигурадзе Н., Лордкипанидзе Г., Тодуа Т. Клейма XV легиона из Пицундского городища // ВДИ. 1987. № 2. C. 88-92; Лордкипанидзе О. Наследие древней Грузии. Тбилиси. 1989. C. 347-348; Braund D. Georgia inAntiquity. Oxford, 1994.P. 152-169; Gamkrelidze G., Todua T. Roman military and political expansion to Georgia. Tbilisi, 2006, P. 60; Kakhidze E. Apsaros: A Roman Fort in Southwestern Georgia // Meetings of Cultures in the Black Sea Region: Between Conflict and Coexistence, Black Sea Studies, 8. Aarhus, 2008, P. 303-314; Kakhidze E., Burkadze L. Relations between Rome and Iberia-Colchis in the 1st century BC-1st century AD // Pro Georgia: Journal of Kartvelological Studies, 126. Warsaw, 2016. P. 65-68.

2. Speidel M. P. The Caucasus frontier. S. 658-659.

3. Speidel M. P. The Roman Army in Asia Minor // Recent Epigraphical Discoveries and Researches. Armies and Frontiers in Roman and Byzantine Anatolia. BAR International Series, 156. Oxford, 1983. P. 29, Note 41.

4. Mamuladze S., Khalvashi M., Aslanishvili L. Roman garrisons in Apsarus // Caucasian Bulletin, 2. Tbilisi, 2002. P. 92.

5. Кигурадзе Н., Лордкипанидзе Г., Тодуа Т. Клейма XV легиона... C. 90, рис4a; Brandl U. Untersuchungen zu den Ziegelstempeln rцmischer Legionen in den nordwestlichen Provinzen des Imperium Romanum // Passauer Univesitдtsschriften zur Archдologie, Band 6. Rahden/Westf., 1999. S. 635, taf. 55.

6. Speidel M. P. The development of the roman forces in northeastern Anatolia // New evidence for the history of the exercitur Cappadocicus. BAR International Series, 1717. Oxford, 2007. P. 83-84.

7. Штаерман Е. М. Этнический и социальный состав римского войска на Дунае // ВДИ. 1946. №3. C. 256; Johnson A. Roemische Kastelle, des 1 und 2 Jahrhunderts n. Chr. // Britannien und in den germanischen Provinzen der Roemerreiches. Uebersetzt von Gabriele Schulte-Haltey, 1987. Mainz am Rhein. S. 23.

8. Spitzlberger G. Die rцmischen Ziegelstempel im nцrdlichen Teil der Provinz Raetien // Saalburg Jahrbuch. Bericht des Saalburg Museums, XXV. Saalburg, 1968, S. taf. 3.

9. Brandl U. Op. cit. S. 306.

10. Khalvashi M., Aslanishvili L., Flavius Arrian and Roman garrisons in Apsarus // Proceedings of International Conference Humanities in the Information Society, 2, vol. 3. Batumi, 2014. P. 336-343.

11. Леквинадзе В. А. Op. cit. C. 77-78; Mitford T.B. Some inscriptions from the Cappadocian Limes // JRS, 64. Cambridge, 1974, P. 164, Note 24.

12. Speidel M.P. The Caucasus frontier. S. 659-660; Campbell D.B. Auxiliary artillery revisited // Bonner Jahrbucher, 186. Bonn, 1986, S. 126; Braund D. Op. cit. P. 181; Todua T. The Roman world and Georgian Black Sea littoral. Tbilisi, 2003. P. 6.

Размещено на Allbest.ru